The Justice Department Embarrassed In The Texas Voter ID Case

Our own Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbot explains above what happened in the Texas Voter ID case last week. Pay close attention to the details he gives on his prosecution of Voter ID fraud in his office alone. The Voter ID law approved last year here in Texas, and signed into law by Gov. Perry, was blocked by Obama’s Justice Department. THE DOJ said it unfairly impacts minority voters, even though similar Voter Id laws in Indiana and Georgia have proven to actually increase minority voting, and Indiana cleared legal challenges up to the Supreme Court. A three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., heard the Texas case last week. A ruling is expected by next month. The Justice Department was not able to prove that any voters were disfranchised by the law. There are at least 15 other states with similar laws passed or pending, so this could effect them as well. But once again, it will probably end up in the Supreme Court, even though in 2008 the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision upholding the Indiana law Voter ID law (requiring voters to show a picture ID to vote).

In addition to the Justice Department hiring a wildly liberal data analysis firm, their lead lawyer was also wildly partisan. Read the details of that here, but here’s the best part from the experts:

The expert hired by the state, University of Texas Professor Thomas Sager, analyzed the DOJ’s list of those who supposedly lack photo identification and found:

•More than 57,000 of the voters were listed as “deceased” in the Texas Department of Public Safety’s driver’s license database.

•More than 290,000 of the voters are over the age of 65 — and therefore able to cast mail-in-ballots without having to show any photo identification.

•More than 260,000 voters are listed as “in suspense” on the Secretary of State’s Voter Registration List because they had moved or left the state — and therefore are ineligible to vote.

•More than 450,000 were successfully matched to state-issued photo identification records — an obvious, plain, and grievous “error” by DOJ.

The last mistake proved to be quite embarrassing to DOJ on the first day of trial. Two of the individuals listed by the Justice Department and its collection of “experts” as not having a photo ID included Texas Election Director Keith Ingram and his wife, both of whom have Texas driver’s licenses, as Ingram testified on the stand. DOJ and Ansolabehere also made other mistakes that led Sager to conclude that more than 1.45 million voters were incorrectly listed by DOJ as not having an ID.

The embarrassment didn’t stop there.

On Tuesday, the chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, Rep. Trey Martinez Fisher (D-San Antonio), who led the opposition to voter ID in the Texas House, was put up as a witness by the Justice Department. In cross-examination by Texas, Fisher had to admit that the statements he had made in the midst of the legislative debate that his 74-year old mother would be unable to vote because she didn’t have a Texas driver’s license were untrue. Not only did she have a license at the time Fisher made that false claim, she renewed it last August.

…………………

Texas had another expert, Prof. Daron Shaw, conduct a representative survey of a sample of the voters that DOJ claimed had no ID. He found that 73 percent reported they actually had a Texas driver’s license. The survey also showed that 39 percent had passports and 18 percent had military IDs. Once the voters over age 65 who don’t need an ID to vote were eliminated, the survey revealed that 1.9 percent of whites, 0.96 percent of Hispanics, and 1.23 percent of blacks will have to obtain a free photo ID. Shaw concludes that “there is no statistically significant difference in ID possession rates amongst whites, blacks, and Hispanics” contrary to the false claims made publicly by DOJ (his report also showed that Catalist’s race-matching data is largely flawed – only 68 percent of voters that the Ickes firm claimed are African-American self-identified as black).

And if you didn’t or couldn’t see the video above, on the list of those without ID in Texas listed by the Justice Dept were President George Bush, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Phil Gramm. What a joke.

Bottom line? When the Justice Department or liberal pundits throw out numbers on how many do not have ID, it’s bogus.

Although this might seem like a cut and dried case, there are three judges on this panel and two were appointed by Democrat Presidents. Rosemary Collyer, was appointed in 2002 by President George W. Bush. The other judges hearing the case are David Tatel, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, and Robert Wilkins, appointed in 2010 by President Obama. So, things don’t look good for Texas sadly, despite all the embarrassment of the DOJ. We shall see if partisanship overrules justice. I’m not hopeful.

Let’s face it. The democrat party has turned hard left and those that are of that stripe will resort to any means necessary to advance their cause. Lies are accepted as useful and even necessary. Those that promote the lies have obviously convinced themselves that the ends justify the blatant distortions to achieve their goals.

Let’s see our liberal commentors come to this blog and justify their methods. Watch as they turn defending the lies to defending the rights of the unidentified disenfranchised.

Those that promote fraud to “protect” those that wlll ultimately bear the consequences of putting their faith in liars are vile people.

Saw a pretty good observation this weekend. Somebody noted those that once said to never trust anyone over 30 are now screwing the future for those under 30.

I would be very wary of anything I hear on Fox News. They are not the most honest organization and have known to blatantly lie to viewers. But if you’re a conservative, they will tell you what you want to hear, true or not.

“•More than 290,000 of the voters are over the age of 65 — and therefore able to cast mail-in-ballots without having to show any photo identification.”

Whoa. Wait a minute. I thought we were really worred about voter fraud?

But now the state of Texas and the GOP cheerleaders are telling us that voter fraud is acceptable as long as you are old?

If this is so important, why the double standard? 300,000 cases of fraud are certainly enough to tip an election. I thought eliminating fraud was important? Or is it just a certain group of people you are worried about?

Let me start by saying that in theory, I’m not opposed to Voter ID laws. In practice, as attempted by Republicans in Texas, there is little by which to be thrilled.

Fraud is much, much easier with mail-in votes. The Republicans didn’t go after this much more obvious and prevalent target. I wonder why? It certainly could not be that mail-in votes go disproportionately to Republicans.

Voter fraud is more likely to be perpetrated by election officials. The Voter ID law also does not target that. I wonder why? Certainly it would not be because most election officials in Texas are Republican.

There are some pretty significant differences between Texas and Indiana and other states with Voter ID laws. Something like 20%-30% of counties in Texas do not have DMV offices, and those that do are not generally open after work or on Saturday. Per capita, the number of DMV offices in Texas is dwarfed by those in other states.

So sure, the IDs may be cheap and/or free, but when you are working an hourly job, having to get to a DMV and wait at a DMV may not be easy, and certainly is not cheap if you are taking off from work.

If the Republicans in Texas had pushed the Voter ID law with a “and we are going to do everything possible to get everyone an ID, including reaching out to those counties without DMVs and reaching out to those people who do not have IDs”, then people (and the DOJ) would be much more open to it.

We should be encouraging every eligible citizen to vote, and doing everything we can to make that happen, rather than creating obstacles for it to happen.

You like to repeat (ad naseum) that somehow it is the racist liberals who believe “minorities are too stupid to get an ID”, and that is pretty weak even for a partisan pundit like you. You know as well as I do, that proportionally, US citizens who are minorities are more likely to not have an ID. I do find it odd that while you know this to be true, you seem to jump to a lack of cognitive ability as the cause.

We are creating hurdle that disproportionately affects certain groups more than others, and we are not providing effective remedies for addressing that effect. That is where the DOJ or the courts will have problems with the Texas Voter ID law. Fix that, and I’ll be right on board with you.

“In addition to the Justice Department hiring a wildly liberal data analysis firm, their lead lawyer was also wildly partisan. Read the details of that here, but here’s the best part from the experts:”
.
Oh, wildly partisan like you?

I read daily from conservatives that just cannot seem to understand the burden that a voter ID law would put on some individuals. They seem to only live in their world (with a car, a job,and the financial means to do almost anything. They do not walk the mile (or in this case 50 miles) to imagine an American citizen that does not work, does not have a drivers license or ID, does odd jobs that do not require an employer, but still desires to exercise the right to vote. If this person is disenfranchised by the obstacles that are put in front of him to vote, then the objective of the Voter ID act is achieved. Voter suppression. Read today (thurs. July 19) in the chronicle about the study that finds voter ID laws hurtful to minorities and the poor. Read Leonard Pitts. It is as obvious as the nose on your face, what the GOP is trying to accomplish – voter suppression. Would you be against what Leonard Pitts suggests – and that is to issue biometric ID cards like Mexico? Oh my.. all those minorities issued ID cards and eligible to vote… the horror…..

But it’s a “burden” by your standard to get to the polls to vote. How in the world do they accomplish that?? We are not trying for voter suppression. That is absurd. If it were true, then why did minority voting INCREASE after voter ID in Indiana and Georgia? Seems we wouldn’t want it if it increased it, if we really didn’t want minorities to vote. Do you see how absurd that is? The integrity of the vote is sacred. It’s clearly been desecrated by dead people voting and non citizens voting. That makes yours and my vote not count, and that is wrong. Reasonable people understand that the very few without ID don’t vote anyway. The benefits far outweigh the vices.

I am amused by your turning of the tables on this. That it is the Dept. of Justice who has the burden of proof, that voter ID laws are a form of suppression. That is not what is going on here. It is the State of Texas that has the burden of proof – to prove: 1. that their is clear voter fraud (abbot has been unable to prove anything) and that by inacting the Voter ID law, Texas will NOT be violationg the Federal Voting Rights act.
When you consider that “In Texas, in 32 counties near the Mexico border there are 80,000 Hispanic eligible voters but only two ID-issuing offices open more than two days a week.” Read more from The Washington Post, NPR, and USA Today.
So if only one of those 80,000 cannot find the means to travel the distance necessary on one of the days that the office is open in that distant county. Then your precious voter ID law is IN FACT supressing voting rights. His vote counts just as much as yours. You would deny him that right – and understandably so. He is likely to vote Democrat. The GOP would love to discourage the traditionally democratic voting minority groups from voting. Who does the GOP think they are fooling about this? I imagine the judges hearing Abbot argue this case are having a good laugh in close chambers at his faux outrage on the SCOURGE of voter fraud that does not exist. Kathleen can you provide instances of TRUE voter fraud IN TEXAS? Documented? And how that impacted any race in TEXAS. Spare us the “dead people on voter roles” red herring – which is not voter fraud.

Abbot prosecuted voter fraud over 50 times, so not sure what you mean by not proving anything. He did. This whole meme that it would be so hard for them to go get an ID is completely absurd. If someone can get to the voting booth, they can get to the place to get an ID. Do you honestly believe that there are 80,000 LEGAL Hispanics that don’t have drivers license? When one has to have to enroll in school, cash a check, get on a plane, or buy a drink??? Please. It’s absurd.

sparkle-
“it’s a “burden” by your standard to get to the polls to vote”

Nope.. never said that .. their are FAR more voting polls than Texas department of transportation offices….

but why would a disenfranchised american citizen bother if he has to travel 100 miles to get a state issued ID Card?
GET ON A PLANE?? Really.. you should spend more time with the poor (spare me your social services resume) if you think a poor person ever steps onto a plane… I am talking dirt poor here Kathleen. You obviously think your vote counts more than theirs.

There may be more, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t as far away. A drive is a drive. When you can show me that the “dirt poor” are clamoring to vote and complaining that they can’t get an ID, then we can talk.

In the interest of fairness I think you need to inform the readers that Daron Shaw (the pollster you cite) is not only a professor of political science at the University of Texas at Austin, but is also a Fox News Contributor that sits on Fox’s national decision team. Perhaps Mr Shaw has interests of his own he is looking out for…